Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 27, 2022 21:10:52 GMT 12
I discovered this in the PRESS, 29 January 1969. Does it still survive?
Old Scow To Have Place Of Honour In Blenheim Park
A group of Blenheim enthusiasts, including the man who owned and commanded the old scow Echo for several decades (Captain T. Eckford) is planning to restore her, take her out of the water and place her in a public park as a maritime museum.
Captain Eckford is in charge of the technical side of putting the vessel into shape. The two dozen enthusiasts, who only recently formed and incorporated the Echo Preservation Society, now own the 61-year-old scow, which traded between Blenheim and Wellington for nearly 50 years. They will be getting on to the job of preserving the upper works, which have shown signs of deterioration since the vessel was laid up at the town wharf, in the Opawa River more than a year ago.
“We will be burning the old paint off and applying timber preservative immediately,” Captain Eckford said. A campaign to raise funds will be started and the project has the backing of representatives of the Marlborough Public Relations Association, the Marlborough Historical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees and the Wairau Harbour Board.
Costly Item
Work on restoring the old ship should take about 12 months, but the biggest and costliest part of the job will be to take her out of the river and transport her overland to a suitable site. The Echo is the last of a long line of ships that traded direct into Blenheim port, the first steamer being the Tasmanian Maid in 1857. In her heyday the Echo carried up to 14,000 tons of cargo a year across the straits, but was finally forced out of the trade by competition from the rail ferries.
A triple-skinned vessel, she was laid down in 1905 at Te Kopuru on the Northern Wairoa River, which flows into Kaipara Harbour, by William Brown and Sons. She was first a topsail schooner with a 20 h.p. Hercules oil engine as an auxiliary. Her hull was the square-bilge scow type which had been evolved in the days when most of the country’s commercial traffic went by sea between river ports. Centreboards were lowered to prevent leeward drift when sailing.
Little is known by Eckford and Company of the scow’s ownership or activities during the earlier years, but she was most likely among the many little ships of her kind that traded round the Auckland peninsula. In 1916 she was bought by Richardson’s, the well-known Napier shipping firm, to transport meat from the Wairoa freezing works to Napier. The following year she was fitted with two Skandia semi-diesel engines of about 40 h.p. each. But this service finished when the railway was completed between Wairoa and Waikokopu, where overseas ships loaded in the roadstead.
It was then, in 1920, that the Echo was purchased for the Blenheim-Wellington service, running with other vessels such as the Opawa and Wairau.
The Echo’s topmasts were later removed, but she continued to carry sail—used to steady her against rolling in the beam seas of Cook Strait.
Her worst adventure was in the 30s when she was driven on the rocks at Pencarrow Head and holed. The crew took the ship’s boat and made the shore successfully, but the Echo drifted off filled with water, and rolled over on her side. In this state she drifted upharbour and was salvaged next day. The cargo was a total loss, but the hull was repaired without great difficulty.
One of the highlights of the Echo’s career was when she was requisitioned in 1942 by the U.S. Navy. She served as a supply ship for the New Hebrides-Solomon-New Guinea area, and gave sterling service in those dangerous waters under the American flag. Perhaps her unwarlike appearance was some protection, but so far as is known in New Zealand she suffered only one unsuccessful attack by Japanese aircraft during this period. When the need for her services ended in 1944 she was reconditioned and brought back by Eckford and Company to resume her old trade.
Hollywood Film
Her war service was the theme of a Hollywood film released in 1961. The film company wanted to buy or charter the ship for the purpose, but the best Captain Eckford would offer was to make her available for film sequences on the New Zealand coast, as he had no other ship to take over the run. So the movie people made do with another vessel, only superficially similar, and as is sometimes the way with Hollywood films, the plot did not bear much resemblance to the real story.
Much new material went into her hull after her Pacific service, when the teredo worm got into her, but the original kauri frame timbers still in her bottom have been “pickled” into a purplish-black, tough and seemingly everlasting wood. During her annual overhaul in 1963 the heavy Vivian diesels which had done duty since 1940 were replaced with two 95 h.p. engines from the scow Talisman. This increased her speed from six to seven knots with a lower fuel consumption.
But with the introduction of the Aramoana and Aranui on the Cook Strait run, there was a big toll of small coasters. The Echo stuck it out gamely and was one of the last to retire. Cargo dwindled to almost nothing and the little ship, under her master of several years, Captain Jock Dalziel, made her last trip out from Wellington for Blenheim on August 17, 1965.
Sold Again
For several months she was tied up in the Opawa River and was then sold to a Lyttelton owner who used her for crayfishing off the Chathams. But this venture was unsuccessful and last year she was resold to Mr R. A. Mason, who brought her back to Blenheim. After removing the engines, Mr Mason handed the scow over to a group of enthusiasts in July, 1967. The lack of work done on the ship, which has steadily deteriorated since that date, has caused severe criticism, but the new Echo Preservaion Society has risen from the ashes of the old one—and according to Captain Eckford it will be really “getting on with the job”.
Old Scow To Have Place Of Honour In Blenheim Park
A group of Blenheim enthusiasts, including the man who owned and commanded the old scow Echo for several decades (Captain T. Eckford) is planning to restore her, take her out of the water and place her in a public park as a maritime museum.
Captain Eckford is in charge of the technical side of putting the vessel into shape. The two dozen enthusiasts, who only recently formed and incorporated the Echo Preservation Society, now own the 61-year-old scow, which traded between Blenheim and Wellington for nearly 50 years. They will be getting on to the job of preserving the upper works, which have shown signs of deterioration since the vessel was laid up at the town wharf, in the Opawa River more than a year ago.
“We will be burning the old paint off and applying timber preservative immediately,” Captain Eckford said. A campaign to raise funds will be started and the project has the backing of representatives of the Marlborough Public Relations Association, the Marlborough Historical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce, Jaycees and the Wairau Harbour Board.
Costly Item
Work on restoring the old ship should take about 12 months, but the biggest and costliest part of the job will be to take her out of the river and transport her overland to a suitable site. The Echo is the last of a long line of ships that traded direct into Blenheim port, the first steamer being the Tasmanian Maid in 1857. In her heyday the Echo carried up to 14,000 tons of cargo a year across the straits, but was finally forced out of the trade by competition from the rail ferries.
A triple-skinned vessel, she was laid down in 1905 at Te Kopuru on the Northern Wairoa River, which flows into Kaipara Harbour, by William Brown and Sons. She was first a topsail schooner with a 20 h.p. Hercules oil engine as an auxiliary. Her hull was the square-bilge scow type which had been evolved in the days when most of the country’s commercial traffic went by sea between river ports. Centreboards were lowered to prevent leeward drift when sailing.
Little is known by Eckford and Company of the scow’s ownership or activities during the earlier years, but she was most likely among the many little ships of her kind that traded round the Auckland peninsula. In 1916 she was bought by Richardson’s, the well-known Napier shipping firm, to transport meat from the Wairoa freezing works to Napier. The following year she was fitted with two Skandia semi-diesel engines of about 40 h.p. each. But this service finished when the railway was completed between Wairoa and Waikokopu, where overseas ships loaded in the roadstead.
It was then, in 1920, that the Echo was purchased for the Blenheim-Wellington service, running with other vessels such as the Opawa and Wairau.
The Echo’s topmasts were later removed, but she continued to carry sail—used to steady her against rolling in the beam seas of Cook Strait.
Her worst adventure was in the 30s when she was driven on the rocks at Pencarrow Head and holed. The crew took the ship’s boat and made the shore successfully, but the Echo drifted off filled with water, and rolled over on her side. In this state she drifted upharbour and was salvaged next day. The cargo was a total loss, but the hull was repaired without great difficulty.
One of the highlights of the Echo’s career was when she was requisitioned in 1942 by the U.S. Navy. She served as a supply ship for the New Hebrides-Solomon-New Guinea area, and gave sterling service in those dangerous waters under the American flag. Perhaps her unwarlike appearance was some protection, but so far as is known in New Zealand she suffered only one unsuccessful attack by Japanese aircraft during this period. When the need for her services ended in 1944 she was reconditioned and brought back by Eckford and Company to resume her old trade.
Hollywood Film
Her war service was the theme of a Hollywood film released in 1961. The film company wanted to buy or charter the ship for the purpose, but the best Captain Eckford would offer was to make her available for film sequences on the New Zealand coast, as he had no other ship to take over the run. So the movie people made do with another vessel, only superficially similar, and as is sometimes the way with Hollywood films, the plot did not bear much resemblance to the real story.
Much new material went into her hull after her Pacific service, when the teredo worm got into her, but the original kauri frame timbers still in her bottom have been “pickled” into a purplish-black, tough and seemingly everlasting wood. During her annual overhaul in 1963 the heavy Vivian diesels which had done duty since 1940 were replaced with two 95 h.p. engines from the scow Talisman. This increased her speed from six to seven knots with a lower fuel consumption.
But with the introduction of the Aramoana and Aranui on the Cook Strait run, there was a big toll of small coasters. The Echo stuck it out gamely and was one of the last to retire. Cargo dwindled to almost nothing and the little ship, under her master of several years, Captain Jock Dalziel, made her last trip out from Wellington for Blenheim on August 17, 1965.
Sold Again
For several months she was tied up in the Opawa River and was then sold to a Lyttelton owner who used her for crayfishing off the Chathams. But this venture was unsuccessful and last year she was resold to Mr R. A. Mason, who brought her back to Blenheim. After removing the engines, Mr Mason handed the scow over to a group of enthusiasts in July, 1967. The lack of work done on the ship, which has steadily deteriorated since that date, has caused severe criticism, but the new Echo Preservaion Society has risen from the ashes of the old one—and according to Captain Eckford it will be really “getting on with the job”.
